# "Goodies" in Vinyl Albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201 "2012-02-18T00:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/21 "2012-02-18T12:52:41Z")
Old KISS records had tons of stuff. Alive II came with a [photo book](http://www.kissfaq.com/albumcovers/alive2/evolution1.jpg) and a sheet of [temporary tattoos](http://www.kissfaq.com/albumcovers/alive2/alive_2_tattoo.jpg), both of which were included in the remastered cd. Love Gun came with [this](http://www.kissfaq.com/albumcovers/lovegun/lovegun_gun.jpg), and Double Platinum came with [this](http://www.kissfaq.com/albumcovers/doubleplatinum/double_platinum_award.jpg). When they did their solo albums in 1978, each one came with a poster, which all fit together like a puzzle to form [one large picture](http://www.flaming-youth.com/audio_solo-posters.jpg). And of course the Dead Kennedys _Frankenchrist_ came with a [poster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape). ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/22 "2012-02-18T13:08:10Z")
I miss the lyrics that came with the album. Yes, I know we can all Google them now. But the visceral joy of sitting with the album cover and listening to the songs and being able to sing along with them. Hard to beat. And Big Bamboo? It works MUCH better when quartered. Just sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/23 "2012-02-18T13:13:31Z")
Oh yeah, I forgot about the awesome artwork on some of these albums. Here is classic example: [Terra](http://www.vinylrecords.ch/E/EL/Electric_Light_Orchestra/Out_Blue/out-blue-47.jpg) and [Mars](http://www.vinylrecords.ch/E/EL/Electric_Light_Orchestra/Out_Blue/out-blue-48.jpg) Incidentally, one of the truly brilliant works by ELO. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/24 "2012-02-18T13:26:16Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Oh yeah, I forgot about the awesome artwork on some of these albums. > Here is classic example: > [Terra](http://www.vinylrecords.ch/E/EL/Electric_Light_Orchestra/Out_Blue/out-blue-47.jpg) > and > [Mars](http://www.vinylrecords.ch/E/EL/Electric_Light_Orchestra/Out_Blue/out-blue-48.jpg) > > Incidentally, one of the truly brilliant works by ELO. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Yessongs\_Awakening.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Yessongs_Awakening.jpg) Roger Dean! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/25 "2012-02-18T13:27:40Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Yessongs\_Awakening.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Yessongs_Awakening.jpg) > > Roger Dean! That is wonderful! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/26 "2012-02-18T13:32:43Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > 1. One issue of Mad Magazine had a flexi-disc that told a funny story with a few minor variations. The needle would jump at certain points and take one of two possible paths. That’s not actually how it worked. There were 6 (8?) concentric spiral grooves, all ending at the same runout. Each groove was a separate recording, but when the recording was first made, the first part of each was the same. There was no way of telling which one you were listening to until the end, where they were different. The needle would be put down randomly, and followed that groove to the end. As you might imagine, each song was very short, and the grooves were mastered with fixed pitch (constant distance between grooves). And I think the disc was made by [Eva-Tone Soundsheets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexi_disc), which did many flexible plastic disks that were often bound in magazines and could be torn out to play. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/27 "2012-02-18T13:53:49Z")
One\* Rocky Horror Picture Show\* sound track album was a “picture disc” that my younger self thought was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/28 "2012-02-18T14:00:25Z")
T **he Ex** ’s [Aural Guerilla](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aural_Guerrilla) came with a big newsprint-paper foldout with all sorts of stuff printed on it - I think it folded out to 12 times the size of an album cover - and also a cassette-sized card of the album cover so you could copy it to cassette tape and use it as cover for it. Their 7" single of Spanish Civil War songs, _1936 - The Spanish Revolution_, was a gatefold sleeve with maybe 100 pages of photos of the war bound in. Might even have been a double single, I’d have to check. The **Rockpile** lp, _Seconds of Pleasure_, had a 7" floppy disc on the cover of Edmunds & Lowe doing Everly Brothers covers. The songs are now just added in to the cd release, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/29 "2012-02-18T15:42:45Z")
Geez, who knew what I was missing? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/30 "2012-02-18T15:51:09Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > The first pressing of Plastic Ono Band’s _Live Peace in Toronto_ included a John & Yoko calendar. The second pressing had a coupon you could send in to get the calendar. I seem to recall that Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ album having a 1971 calendar as well. I bought a copy in 1982 (and I have no idea if it was a reissue or not) which included it, and lucky me, it worked for '82. And the White Album, in addition to the 8x10’s, also had a two sided poster, with the lyrics on one side and assorted photos on the other. (I always thought they were the pictures that were originally intended for the album jacket) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/31 "2012-02-18T16:21:24Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > I seem to recall that Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ album having a 1971 calendar as well. I’ve never heard of that, and it would be strange to include a 1971 calendar in an album that was released when the year was mostly over. What I do remember being packaged with _Imagine_ was a postcard-sized photo of [John holding a pig by the ears](http://www.beatlesbible.com/images/john_lennon/lennon-imagine-pig.jpg), making fun of Paul’s recent _Ram_ album cover. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/32 "2012-02-18T16:21:35Z")
According to Wikipedia, _Monty Python’s Matching Tie and Handkerchief_ comedy album originally came with a real tie and handkerchief and was distributed through menswear stores. > **[The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matching_Tie_and_Handkerchief)** > > The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief is the fourth album by the comedy group Monty Python, released in 1973. Most of the material was newly written for the album along with a handful of sketches from the third series of Flying Circus, one from the second ("Bruces") and another from the first ("Pet Conversions"). The team were once again joined by Neil Innes, who provided a trio of rock music parodies for "The Background to History". The album was famously mixed and edited in a garden ... I can’t confirm that because my copy didn’t come with any clothing and I purchased it in a place you would typically purchase an album. The inclusion of an actual tie and handkerchief is believable, but the claim that it was distributed in clothing stores seems questionable to me. :dubious: I can, however, confirm that the B side had two grooves so that you would hear one of two different sets of sketches depending on where the needle landed. I remember that the second or third time I listened to the album I thought “that doesn’t sound familiar, didn’t I play the second side before”? 😕 Years later, a coworker mentioned that _Matching Tie and Handkerchief_ had two grooves on the B side, and a light bulb went on in my head. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/33 "2012-02-18T16:27:08Z")
The Who’s “Live at Leeds” was the first one that came to mind. Jeez, but there was a pile of crap that came with that album (fun, though). Much as I have enjoyed vinyl albums, I have to acknowledge that CDs (especially box sets) often come with special goodies. My [“Brain In A Box”](http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Box-Science-Fiction-Collection/dp/B00004ZDX9) (which a nice spouselette got me for Xmas) has a great design resembling a brain in preservative, and has a neat mini-book on the subject of sci-fi and horror music/movies/comics etc. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/34 "2012-02-18T17:18:28Z")
Re: Live At Leeds–like the guy in Pawn Stars, a coworker gave me a copy of the Woodstock contract that he “discovered” in the LP bin of a Goodwill Store. He was so excited, I hated to break the news to him. The Kinks album _Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)_ came with an insert of [Queen Victoria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kinks_Arthur_Gatefold.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/35 "2012-02-18T17:49:13Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I’ve never heard of that, and it would be strange to include a 1971 calendar in an album that was released when the year was mostly over. What I do remember being packaged with _Imagine_ was a postcard-sized photo of [John holding a pig by the ears](http://www.beatlesbible.com/images/john_lennon/lennon-imagine-pig.jpg), making fun of Paul’s recent _Ram_ album cover. You’re right. So maybe it was Plastic Ono Band that had the calendar; that was originally released in December 1970, which would make more sense. I do remember I got it in 1982, and the 1971 calendar is the same. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/36 "2012-02-18T18:32:07Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > That’s not actually how it worked. There were 6 (8?) concentric spiral grooves, all ending at the same runout. Each groove was a separate recording, but when the recording was first made, the first part of each was the same. There was no way of telling which one you were listening to until the end, where they were different. Thank you for the correction. Fascinating. Do you know if it was ever done for music on vinyl as opposed to a Flexi disc? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mister\_Owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Owl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/37 "2012-02-18T20:33:19Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > And Big Bamboo? > It works MUCH better when quartered. > > Just sayin’ But only an eighth as much fun. True, it didn’t work very well, but we were already enhanced. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/38 "2012-02-18T20:58:30Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Do you know if it was ever done for music on vinyl as opposed to a Flexi disc? [They’re At The Post](http://www.retrothing.com/2007/11/theyre-at-the-p.html), for one, consisted of a set of four LPs of an announcer giving commentary on horse races. Each of the eight races (one per LP side) had an unpredictable outcome depending on which parallel groove the needle happened to slip into. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/39 "2012-02-18T23:47:48Z")
Back before automation, or rather before small pressing companies automated. If you look on the inside of the disk, at the end of the music around the label, people will write stuff. 🆒 Usually its a pressed number or something to do with manufacturing. But, occasionally people will write goofy shit while they inspect albums on the assembly line. I noticed this first on the Go Go’s albums and recent 45 from the 80’s. IRS Records may have printed their own at the time. There were others, but I cant remember what labels they were. (i have the original colored dot Led Zep and the Beatles with the cutouts…used to have the big ass rolling paper from cheech n chong…😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201/40 "2012-02-18T23:54:01Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > [They’re At The Post](http://www.retrothing.com/2007/11/theyre-at-the-p.html), for one, consisted of a set of four LPs of an announcer giving commentary on horse races. Cool. I’m still wondering if this was done with music with alternate takes of a song. Perhaps the sound quality or cost made this impractical. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodies-in-vinyl-albums/613201.md?page=3)